Detachable button



(No Model.)

N. D. INGRAM. DETAGHABLE BUTTON.

' Patented Dec. 24, 1895.

FNDREW B.GRA)MM Pum'oumo. WASHINGTON DE UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE.

NATHAN D. INGRAM, OF HOLYOKE, MASSACHUSETTS.

DETACHABLE BUTTON.

. SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 551,,896, dated December 24, 1895.

Application filed August 16, 1895. Serial No. 559,556. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, NATHAN D. INGRAM, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Holyoke, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Detachable Buttons, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in buttons for garments, and more particularly to that class thereof which are secured to wearing-apparel and similar articles without sewing and are detachable at will.

The object of this invention is to provide a button of the above-named class of improved construction, and it consists in the improved details thereof, all as hereinafter fully described, and more particularly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings forming part of this specification, Figures 1, 2 and 3 are plan views of the rear or collet sides of a button, and Fig. 7 is a transverse section thereof about on line w :0, Fig.2, embodying my improvements,-said Figs. 1, 2 and 3 showing the collet partly broken away in order to clearly disclose the arrangement of that part of the button-securing bar contained therein. Figs. 4 and 5 also show the collet partly broken away, and illustrate a slightly-different disposition of that part of the button-securing bar therein from that shown in the preceding figures. Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a section of one of the button-collets, illustrating certain essential structural features hereinafter described.

In the drawings, a indicates the face of the button, and b the rear side or collet thereof.

The button proper illustrated in the drawings is constructed preferably of sheet metal, as is usual in metal buttons, and embodies said two partsviz., a face and a collet-these parts being united around theirborders by crimping or folding the border of one-say the face a-Onto theborder of the collet b,as shown clearly in Fig. 7, wherein the button is shown with its collet or rear side upward, the foldedoverborder in that figure being indicated by 0. The said face a substantially is of the descriptionused in metal buttons. The collet b, however, is constructed as follows, to co-operate with the button-securing devices. Fig. 6 illustrates a. portion of said collet, in which, as well as in Figs. 2, 4, 5 and 7, are clearly shown a slot f and a notch z in the inner border thereof.

The button-fastening element consists of a piece of spring-wire, a portion 6 of which is located in the interior of the button, between the collet b and the face athereof. One extremityfof said wire, as shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 7, extends transversely beneath a slot i, formed in the inner edge of the collet b, and is so bent as to lie, normally, up against the inner wall of said collet, as shown in Fig. 7. From said end f the wire extends either in the form shown in Figs. 1 and 2 around near the border within the button or it has the loop or loops formed therein shown in Figs. 3 and 5. The looped construction is found at times to assist in maintaining the wire steadily in position within the but-ton.

A second slot m, Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, and 7, is formed in the border of the collet I), opposite said slot 1', through which the free end 0 of the wire passes. Said end a of the wire 6, which is outside of the rear of the button, is bent to about the form shown in Fig. 7, to impart such shape thereto as renders it most convenient to serve as the bar by which the button is attached to a garment or other article. Said end or bar 0 has a pin-point, and is set to extend, normally, somewhat laterally of the center of the button, and so that its point, when outside of and unattached to the collet b, rests beyond the extremity f of the wire 6, which extends across the slot 1 in the collet. The said position of the pointed end of the wire 0 is determined or maintained by its engagement in said slot m in the border of the collet. The said pointed end of the wire 0 is also set to stand, when free, up away from the collet 19, substantially in the position indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 7.

In operating the button to attach it to a garment, the point of the bar 0 is entered into and through the fabric, andits free end is then swung laterally against its spring resistance, over and downward through the slot 2, forcibly against the end f of the wire beneath said slot, deflecting the same, and then moving the point of the bar 0 along over said end f 100 to a position beyond the same, as shown in Fig. 2, and in that position the bar becomes engaged in a notch 2', which serves, in'addition to the extremity fof the wire 6, which acts as a spring-latch, to prevent the pointed end of the bar 0 from becoming disengaged, whereby the button could be separated from the garment.

If preferred, the notch z may be omitted from the collet in the constructions shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 7, in which the extremity f of the wire within the collet passes under the slot 6. In the constructions, however, shown in Figs. 4 and 5, in which the end of the wire a does not extend across said slot 1 the notch z is essential to the maintenance of the pointed bar 0 in the button-retaining position illustrated in said last-named figures.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the described construction relative to Figs. 1, 2, 3, and 7 insures the most complete results as.

to the absolute security of the button fastening or attachment, for the pointed bar 0 cannot be disengaged from the collet 1) without first depressing the end f of wire e, then deflecting the pointed end of said bar clear of the notch z, and swinging it over said end f into the slot i.

In manipulating the construction shown in Figs. 4 and 5, the point of bar 0, to fasten it to the collet, is'simply passed through slot 2' and is swung into notch z, partly by hand force and partly by the spring action of the bar itself under the tendency it has, when moved laterally from its normal position, to spring back. Thus the bar is held in the securing-notch, but not so firmly as it is held against detachment when guarded by the extremity f of wire c.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Pat ent, is-

1. A button comprising a face and a metal collet, combined with a fastening element therefor for attaching the same to a garment or similar object, consisting of a coil of wire in the button having one end emerging therefrom through a slot in one edge of the collet, with which slot said end is normally engaged, said end extending across the under side of the button for engagement by its extremity under the opposite edge of the collet, sub stantially as set forth.

2. A button comprising a face, and a metal collet having two oppositely located slots in its inner border, combined with a fastening bar for said button normally engagingin one of said slots and having a free, pointed extremity to be deflected and passed through said second slot and engaged under the opposite edge of said collet, said bar being continuous of a coil between said face and collet, substantially as set forth.

3. A button comprising a face and a metal collet having two oppositely located slots in its inner border, combined with a fastening bar for said button normally engaging in one of said slots, and having a free, pointed extremity to be deflected and passed through said slot and engaged under the opposite edge of said collet, said bar being continuous of a coil between said face and collet, the inner end of said coil extending across said last named collet slot and being spring held against the inner surface of the collet, substantially as set forth.

4. A button comprising a face, and a metal collet having two oppositely located slots, 0% and f, in its inner border, and a notch z, therein near said slot f, combined with a fastening bar for said button normally engaged in said slot m, and extending therefrom across the button and having a free, pointed extremity to be deflected and passed through said slot f, and engaged in said notch 2, under said collet, substantially as set forth.

5. A button comprising a face and ametal collet, combined with a fastening element therefor for attaching the same to a garment or similar object, consisting of a coil of wire in the button having one end emerging therefrom atone edge of the collet, said end extending across the under side of the button for engagement by its extremity under the opposite edge of the collet, that part of said coil'betweenthe face and collet having one or more loops therein, substantially as set forth.

NATHAN D. INGRAM.

\Vitnesses:

H. A. OHAPIN, K. I, OLEMoNs. 

